A few more shots from the opening of ‘The Oasis‘ in High Kirk Church last week
and the lighting? Did i mention it? Its pretty awesome – below is the range of colours that filter through – an amazing job by Brian Adams, genius!
All the images above ©navyblur
“What is church? It’s people, broken people … pretending not to be broken … and that’s what breaks it…”
The quote is from Phil Groom’s blog post – here / The clip is from Rev, a new BBC sitcom – here – its profound!
I think what’s so great about Rev is, its not making fun of God but it is highlighting how absurd people are.
This clip exposes the ‘Jesus is awesome’ mask brilliantly – if you can watch the full episode on iPlayer, you must do so! It highlights so much of what is wrong with our “21st Century Church” but also shows a beautiful and genuine Christian reaction to such false behaviour. Like i say, profound stuff!
“If Bible teachers could only remember that the ‘Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ and gave us divinely inspired truth, and never for one remote moment meant to give us anything to satisfy our intellectual curiosity, they would realise that the prophets meant to give us truth to transform spirit and soul and bring us into holy living and holy believing. They never intended that we should have theological baby rattles to entertain ourselves.”
A.W. Tozer
You have to admire Tozer’s ability to just ‘say it like it is.’
I just started reading one of the ‘never before published’ titles that landed recently – ‘Living as as Christian’ – and in typical Tozer fashion im blown away in the first chapter. Challenged is perhaps a more apt way to describe BUT…………yes there is a big BUT!!
How often are we challenged by a book or by a sermon to the point where it brings about change? Let me explain….
“Today we sing songs that are so dishonest that i sometimes hesitate to sing them. Yet when we sing the average hymn, if God Almighty compelled us to be entirely 100% honest, we simply could not sing them because their words would not be true of us.” A.W. Tozer
I read that Tozer quote yesterday afternoon and as i stood in Church last night i stared at some of the words and found myself not singing…i couldn’t help but be stopped in my tracks as i pondered the words and whether i meant them or whether we were all just entertaining ourselves.
I don’t say this to boast because these moments are rare – i promise you that – i am no saint!
Each of you can examine your own heart – so, feel free to chuck away this blog post as another aimless rant if you have this all nailed down!
Sometimes i just don’t care about what theological subject you are a ninja with, how well you can argue for dispensationalism or what kind of worship you prefer………its a baby rattle!
I know some of you will say “but its truth, and this is the right way to do things” which is lovely, but how is your life? How is the Holy Living working out for you? Do others think of you as a rude arrogant sod who knows a lot about the Bible? Do you have all the doctrine hammered down tight but yet can’t look a brother in the eye to say hello to him?
Has all the knowledge and intellectual thinking changed who you are?
If not, then what are you rattling, what theological/doctrinal toy are you playing around with?
Holy living and Holy believing…..NOT Holy entertainment! Thats what we need………
Buy the book thats kicking my ass – here – let it kick yours also!!
Truth is, we stood around, sat around, ate some lunch and basically made fun of each other all day on tuesday while Xander & Christine clickety clicked on their camera’s – we love the end result! All the images are awesome!
The above pictures are from ‘madeinBelfast‘ which deserves a mention – for the awesome food but also for allowing us to clown around while they served other customers during lunchtime….look them up next time you are in Belfast.
About a year ago i was eager to encourage the kind of talent and creativity that Navyblur have and also to see it ooze into the Church more, but also for that talent to be encouraged and supported by the Church. Slowly over the past year that has started to happen for us in High Kirk and i’ve gotta say that puts such a big smile on my face, which some of you know is quite an achievement!
There is a bigger picture in this creativity lark and these kids get it which is amazing – im not sure i get it yet! ha!
Iv gotta say that our wee country is bursting with talent in and around the Church – musical, creative, arts and everything your mind can imagine – its all going off right now in Northern Ireland so if you can encourage or support it, please do!
Ok, enough of my rambling and go see the pictures on the Navyblur Blog……
Former first minister of Northern Ireland and DUP leader Ian Paisley has taken his seat in the House of Lords. He was formally introduced as Lord Bannside Of North Antrim.
A “Lord” eh? Thats all very grand and lovely. Getting dressed up in the traditional ermine-trimmed red gown must be good for a man’s ego! Taking the title of “Lord” and “bearing true allegiance to the Queen” is ok for a ’Christian’ right?
Ok, i am not here to attack Ian Paisley – goodness knows he is fine with that task all by himself – but last week he had one of his regular attacks on the Catholic Church, in particular the Pope’s visit to the UK later this year.
And without getting into a discussion about what he thinks is wrong with the Catholic Church or the Pope i ask myself; “does he not see the things he has said & continues to say?”
I just happen to see some irony in it – As Al Pacino said in his role of Satan in The Devil’s Advocate; “Vanity is my favourite sin!”
So, none of us are perfect and should not claim to be but in recent weeks i have been challenged about hypocrisy, this Paisley story was a fresh reminder.
I grew up in a “church denomination” that had a huge issue with appearance. A good clean image, suits, ties, long skirts for the ladies and hats to prevent God being insulted by the female head! I could go on but for the sake of time and my sanity i won’t!
My point is that, i experienced hypocrisy of immense proportions in those surroundings and have only realised as i get older, just how easy it is to slip into this kind of trap.
Why do we not understand that God wants to impact every part of our lives?
Its not ok to condemn a Christian who enjoys a cold beer but see no problem with your racist & homophobic remarks!
Its not ok to ask your employees to attend your Church if you are a pissy boss who rips them off!
Its not ok to attack the man or women who had an affair if you occasionally slip a look at porn on the internet!
I could go on and on………but in closing – Its not even ok for me to criticise or judge the denomination i grew up in, or Ian Paisley for that matter whilst writing a blog post about hypocrisy …………see, we are all supposed to be growing & learning.